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Tag Archives: Heraclitus

It has been pointed out to me that the nature of the mind of the protagonist in Folded Dreams (as pertaining to the novel), is at best the definition of improbability and, at worst, a ridiculous notion that isn’t even worthy of contemplation. In my own experiences of life – and that of an awful lot of other people – her mental comprehension from the beginning seems quite plausible. Granted, some of those people just want to believe it’s possible, without actually thinking deeply about it, but others have, like myself, searched through cultural, religious and esoteric texts to find the answer to, “What is the difference between spirit and soul – and what are their natures before birth, during life and after death?”

As there is at least another three months before Folded Dreams is anywhere near ready to publish (or is re-scheduled), I thought perhaps a ‘primer’ of sorts might be in order; just something to give an idea as to what this little girl is all about. And so I present:

While when referring to children, the term is generally understood to hold autistic or Asperger-ish connotations, in Folded Dreams, the main character, Ginevra Wahl, would be better described as the above definition states, albeit on a different level entirely. To clarify somewhat, there have been ‘savants-in-the-making’ who have displayed such cognitive abilities as early as age 2.

Ginevra is actually none of the above. Hers is cognition that has been described in a plethora of religious, cultural and esoteric texts which exist amongst such well known belief systems as Judaism, Hinduism, Sufiism and even some (off-shoot?) Christian beliefs. The questions arising from such a line of thought include the various beliefs regarding different types of incarnation. Folded Dreams does not suggest the most commonly understood forms of reincarnation, but looks at a rather different idea.

A word: While my first book, Folded Dreams – the Beginning, is a kind of ‘freaky, creepy tale’, it does not require any deep thought to enjoy. You can get delicious, Hallowe’en chills and shudders without delving into the deeper meanings which are intrinsic to the story.

But in the novel, in order to truly understand where Ginevra is at any given time of her life, one must have at least an inkling that, just because science cannot see the physical proof of it, cannot track or measure on a machine that such things exist, does not mean that spirit (or soul) is non-existent (pp.), and nor what are its characteristics pre-birth, during physical life or post-death. It is along this curious line that the story in Folded Dreams is built.

There have been a myriad of quotes that could illustrate the conceptual ideas behind Ginevra’s abilities. Heraclitus of Ephesus (530-470 BC) left us with one of the most well known: “‘We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not’. Or another by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808-1890): “”plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” (‘the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing’). I take these philosophies just a step further (with my proclivity for poetic license!) by turning those ideas inside-out and front-to-back.

Where Heraclitus says, in essence, that though a river may continue a relatively unchanged course (“…step…”), the water is never the same (…”do not step…”) – it forever flows toward the ocean while being replenished by the spring – – – and Karr may be referring to a play or book of a specific genre which remains the same genre (“…step…”), even while the words may change (“…do not step…”), I say, “Yes, but doesn’t the ocean evaporate and after a time become rain which feeds the spring? and doesn’t the genre feed the mind of the new story?”

In the novel, this is the way that I view spirit. It has a set origin from whence all spirit is derived. It returns to its origin to rejoin the whole. While it resides within the physical body, it is both the same, yet not the same.